Most paralegal services will do little more than what you could do yourself - plea down the dollar figure.
A good paralegal should be doing much more for a client than simply arranging a plea deal, let alone just negotiating a fine which does little to help the defendant. Paralegals, like lawyers, are licenced under the Law Society of Upper Canada and have the same obligations in representing their clients at court. I've worked as a Crown Prosecutor, Municipal Prosecutor, and have been the owner of two Ontario based paralegal firms for over three decades and can speak with experience from both sides of the courtroom.
Part of the initial work that a paralegal should be doing for their client is setting out clear and reasonable expectations about what can and can't reasonably be done. Not all cases are easy cases. Not all defendants have a defence. That being said, even in cases where the defendant is clearly guilty and no defence can be found to have the charge withdrawn/dismissed, there may be room to negotiate to a lesser offence and/or lesser penalties. Sometimes damage control is the best that can be done. I regularly see self-represented defendants at court who struggle due to lack of knowledge and make legal mis-steps that damage their interests including charges going to conviction at trial that had a solid defence, but were poorly argued. It is always an option to represent yourself at court, but it is generally an uphill battle fraught with problems due to lack of legal knowledge and knowledge of the court process. Sometimes a compassionate Justice may help a defendant somewhat, but at the end of the day the court is unfortunately an adversarial system.
Whether a case is a municipal matter for a minor offence or under provincial prosecution for a more serious offence like Stunt Driving, most cases generally take approximately 6 to 12 months to resolve. While the two streams of cases at court vary in the types and numbers of hearings, there is a basic overall process that occurs. The earliest key element of every matter before the court is the Prosecution gathering evidence for trial, and the defence serving notice for a disclosure of that evidence. Once the evidence has been gathered and disclosed, a meeting generally occurs between the two sides for an informal review of the evidence. A licenced and experienced paralegal can determine whether there are any fatal errors or omissions in the evidence upon which to have the charge withdrawn. Unfortunately these elements are not generally readily evident to the average person and is the reason that they retain legal representation. However, retaining a legal representative in no way changes the evidence of the Prosecutor or guarantees that a charge will be thrown out at court.
Barring a legal argument to have an offence withdrawn, the next step of the defence is to review the various options going forward with the client within the context of the merits of the Prosecutor's case. Trial is always an option and some Defendants prefer to have their day at court to have their defence presented at trial. However, trial is also an all-or-nothing resolution. Either you win and the charge is dismissed, or you are convicted. Many Defendants provide instruction to their legal representative to negotiate on their behalf to obtain the best possible plea deal given the strengths and weaknesses involved in their matter. A licenced and experienced paralegal brings to the negotiating table the knowledge of what alternate offences fitting the details of the incident are applicable, and which of those offences will minimize the immediate and downstream penalties to their client. A good paralegal will also be able to evaluate the Prosecutor's case in leveraging defects in what the Prosecutor has to work with. At the end of the day a good paralegal can backup their negotiating position with the alternative of running a proper trial as compared to an average person with little-to-no knowledge of the law.
If you are sitting in a courtroom in the early morning watching plea deals being entered, you are watching the final court appearance at the end of a 6 to 12 month process. There are always going to be cases where this is the best possible resolution obtainable to damage control a clear cut breaking of the law without defence. If you are sitting at court for the later part of the day you will be watching trials. You will find a very stark difference in a trial being run by a paralegal and one being run by a self-represented defendant, including submissions regarding penalties to be issued by the court should the defendant be convicted.
Like all major decisions in life, whether or not to retain legal representation comes down to cost vs. benefit. If the offence is a minor offence with little consequence to a conviction, then proceeding on your own will have minor negative consequences if things don't go your way at court. If the offence is a serious one, the costs of self-representation become greater. Generally most paralegals will provide a brief initial review of a matter without cost. It is worthwhile to take advantage of that free information to at a bare minimum understand what you have been charged with and what the penalties are. I am regularly contacted by individuals who plead guilty to an offence not understanding the consequences of doing so, and unfortunately the legal recourse available at that stage is limited, labour intensive, and costly.
